Nogueira was thought to be unbeatable by some, as he mixed an
unwavering fighting spirit with superb conditioning, world-class
submission skills and rugged durability. The Brazilian had not
tasted defeat in nearly three years and had recently posted
submission wins over the monstrous Bob Sapp, the
6-foot-11 Semmy Schilt
and two-time Olympian Dan
Henderson in one four-month span. What’s more, Nogueira had
never been dominated, having suffered his only setback in a split
verdict to Henderson in February 2000.

Emelianenko wiped out his aura of invincibility by establishing one
of his own. Over the course of their 20-minute encounter, the stoic
Russian brutalized Nogueira with ground-and-pound, short-circuiting
his potent submission game. By the end of it, the torch had been
passed, a new era had dawned.

Pride 25 -- which took place at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama,
Japan, on this day 10 years ago -- also featured a quartet of
memorable first-round finishes, as Quinton
Jackson wiped out Randleman, Henderson thumped Shungo Oyama,
Antonio
Schembri put away Kazushi
Sakuraba and Anderson
Silva leveled Carlos Newton.
Spurred by a spectacular flying knee and follow-up punches, the
victory was Silva’s last inside the Pride ring. His next two
appearances within the Japanese promotion resulted in submission
defeats to Daiju Takase
and Ryo
Chonan. Few could have foreseen Silva growing into the
inexorable force he has become today.

Still, Pride 25 will go down in the history books as the event in
which Emelianenko began his reign over the heavyweights. No one
before or since has captured the imagination of the masses quite
like the man from Stary Oskol.